November 21, 2002

By Johnie Sentell

Churches strengthen themselves when they furnish the state Baptist paper for their members through the ­budget. This is especially true for new members.

Bob Pruett came to serve as associate pastor for education at First Baptist Church, Pleasant Grove, about a year ago. Having previously served in other states, he pointed out he has been acquainted with “a good many Baptist papers.”

He said The Alabama Baptist is “probably one of the most balanced papers in the Southern Baptist Convention. It keeps a good, positive attitude.”

Brother Pruett said sending the paper to church members “fills them in on what is going on in Alabama. It’s a good way to see what other churches are doing.”

There is a lot going on at the church he currently serves.

Reaching out

This week First Baptist, Pleasant Grove, will be using its family life center to provide space for its annual Fall Craft Fair with 150 booths inside the gym area. The fair will be held Nov. 22, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Nov. 23, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. It has proved to be a good outreach activity.

The church recently completed a year with its Watchman Prayer Wall with members praying continuously an hour at a time. On Nov. 12, the church held a banquet for past and future participants.

One of four cooks for the Watchman Prayer Wall banquet was Lindsay Hadley. He and his wife, Lynda, have been members at Pleasant Grove for a year and a half. Formerly in another denomination, Lindsay said The Alabama Baptist is “real informative.”

He said he likes “reading about what’s going on around the state, around the association, how other churches are getting involved.”

Guiding prayers

A poster sent to churches this year noted that reading the state Baptist paper helps guide your prayer life. First Baptist, Pleasant Grove, also promotes that use of the paper.

Pastor Tommy Turner “would like for us to use it in our prayer wall,” Lindsay said. “I am going to have a part in it when our new one starts next month.”

Jay and Sheila Prestridge recently started getting The Alabama Baptist. Jay noted that the paper is “easy to read and has good articles.” Both he and his wife work with RAs. Their sons are 12 and 8 years old.

Tracy Penny said she and her husband, Rick, started getting the paper a couple of months ago. “I am not in a regular Sunday School class because I am helping with a youth Sunday School class. The Sunday School commentaries in the back of the paper help me keep up with what is going on in the classes,” she said.

As members of North Shelby Baptist Church, Brian and Heather Hamner of Pelham have also been receiving The Alabama Baptist for about two months. Their children are 4 years old and eight months old. Heather appreciated an article on human cloning. “It was well written,” she said. “It got me thinking.”

Philip and Joyce Crump joined Northside Baptist Church, Jasper, about the end of April.

“Right after we joined, we started receiving The Ala­bama Baptist,” Philip said. “Having been on missions trips to places like Jamaica and Mexico, I am always interested in churches’ missions trips. It always sparks my interest to see those kinds of articles.”

He also likes to read Bob Terry’s editorials. It is interesting to know that Philip even repaired the editor’s computer when it needed some work done on it awhile back.

Getting reacquainted

Although Northside started sending The Alabama Baptist to Wayne and Peggy Berry when they joined about two years ago, the Berrys were already well acquainted with the paper, having read it through previous churches.

Wayne said, “I am a conservative person, and I like all of the paper. It covers a lot of different things.”

Born in Arkansas, he has lived in Alabama since the age of 5 when his parents came back to their native state. On Nov. 10 Alabama certainly wasn’t the best place to be, with tornadoes causing concern, destruction and death. The Berrys live not far from two of those paths.

“We live about seven and a half miles north of Jasper. About 7 p.m., one tornado came through about a mile and a half north of us. About two hours later a tornado came within a mile of us to the south. They just missed us. The good Lord blessed us,” he said.